Saturday, February 1, 2014

Today there wasn't any sun. Fortunately, I figured out how to "attach" a battery to my flashlight in the dark and turn it on. I've heard that this can make you a target, but there's only one other person on this server so how much risk can there be, really?

I've fitted myself out very well. I came to the airport with a motorcycle helmet, fuzzy flannel shirt, cargo pants, screwdriver, several cans of beans and tuna, an axe and a fire extinguisher. I killed two zombies to get the beans and screwdriver, so I'm feeling pretty good about things.

Now I am at an airport. It's a treasure trove of stuff. I've got a backpack, a military helmet, a tactical vest, a gas mask, and I'm collecting up the parts for an M4 machine gun.

I know there has to be a machine gun around here somewhere, because I keep finding parts for it. I have collected the following parts for an M4 rifle:

I am sure that the final building of the airport must yield an M4 rifle. So sure, in fact, that I have left behind everything in my inventory except for the parts of the M4, which will all attach to the rifle, once I get one. Aside from the rifle parts, I have only a partially eaten can of beans. I left the rest at a place I can go back for them later, in a room where I got some of the magazines off of steel shelves. I even gave up my coveted can-opening screwdriver (partially damaged), because I should be able to use the bayonet to open cans even if I don't have an M4 yet, though I haven't tested that theory yet.

I have been skulking around with my flashlight in the dark. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have been drawing any unwanted zombie attention. The last building at the airport looks like a picture I saw on a website, so I have a really good feeling about finding my M4 there.

Inside the door is a jail cell. Well, this is the post-apocalypse, everything is topsy-turvy. Maybe there's a gun inside. Wait, what's that? Am I hearing a zombie? I turn with my light, but there's nothing. Hmm.

I come out of the jail cell, and the sound of gunfire erupts. My flashlight goes out. I run blindly, caroming off walls. The shooting stops. I hear labored breathing and occasional moans.

Great, the only other player on the server is here. They're injured, and they've got my M4. I'm in the dark with a bunch of crap I can't use, trapped inside a building somewhere that I don't even know the layout of. I try to turn my flashlight back on, but it won't come on. What the hey? Hmm, it's marked as "broken", they must have shot it out.

Apparently I can't use the rail-mounted flashlight. Maybe it needs special batteries or something, or it just doesn't work unless it's mounted on a rail which is mounted on a gun. I don't know. But maybe I don't want to make a better target of myself anyway.

It's completely dark. I decide to "cheat" and play with my video settings. If I adjust brightness and gamma up all the way, I see a slightly lighter oblong gray patch in the middle of the black sometimes. I have no clue what that means. I can still hear the labored breathing and moans, they're waiting for me. I bet they found a night vision sight along with the M4. Either that or they see me as a slightly lighter gray patch that they can shoot at in the midst of the blackness.

What to do, what to do? I've got everything but the stinking rifle. I could log off and change servers, maybe. Or maybe I can run out past them. I think I can see a hallway leading off in the darkness--I guess my "eyes" are adapting to the adjusted video settings or something. Maybe if I drop the broken flashlight then take up the bayonet in case they try to block my way...

I make a run for the corner, turn, and run again. Shots ring out, but I keep running. I hit a wall. I get wedged, I'm stuck. But the shooting stopped. What's this? It looks like a gray oblong shape. Cripes, I must have turned a 180 and run right back to where I was.

I'm bleeding now. My bandages are in another building, next to the cans of beans. I drop crap out of my shirt pockets, and prepare to tear it into bandages, leaving several magazines of ammunition on the floor.

I hear an unusually prolonged moan from above me. Maybe they've finally died from blood loss or something.